Social Question

If you found out helmets were unnecessary, would you be more likely to use a bike sharing program in the city?

According to the New York Times, European bike sharing programs don’t make you wear helmets, and the use of these programs is growing quickly. They say that bike riding is no more dangerous than many other ordinary household activities that don’t require helmets.

So if you didn’t have to wear a helmet, would bike riding seem safer? Would it be easier? Would you be more likely to do it? What if the bike was right there, on the corner, waiting for you, and you didn’t have to care for it when the ride was over?

13 Answers

Helmets do save lives. I think people should be able to choose for themselves but, one cannot dispute the safety factor. I’ve been a horse person most of my life and helmets are mandatory in any riding programs these days.
I, personally, do not like wearing them but, I know someone whose horse stumbled on icey ground and she fell on her head and is now brain damaged. Bikes, motorcycles, horses, yep, a good idea even if they are hot and uncomfortable.

Montréal does have a bike sharing system. When I went to work and school down there it was being implemented and I never made use of it, but it seems pretty practical. Being used to subways and buses I wasn’t willing to pay the subscription fees, but still. Seems pretty cool. Not actually sure if a helmet is required, but if I’m to judge from all the people using the bikes, I’d have to assume that they aren’t.

I would be disappointed in a program that did not require helmets. Helmets save lives. A better option might be the use of small locks that secure helmets to bikes so that one needn’t carry them around.

I rode bikes for about 50 years without helmets and I managed to survive, the same goes for seatbelts, safety medicine containers, etc. etc. etc. . It should be an individual decision for adults. If you want to make kids wear them, I don’t care but don’t tell me I have to wear one.
Probably I am in a lot more danger from drunk drivers in cars than injuring myself falling off a bike.

It seems people don’t want to wear helmets that are greasy from other people’s hair. Also, it seems that riding a bike is not as dangerous as we were told to believe. In addition, the programs in Europe have found that as more people use the bikes, the roads get safer, as you have all these gray haired people riding around slowly without helmets.